Nanak- Shahi
This article is an extract from
THE TRIBES and CASTES of BENGAL. Ethnographic Glossary. Printed at the Bengal Secretariat Press. 1891. . |
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Nanak- Shahi
During the sixteenth century several religious reformers! appeared in India, but few were so successful as Nanak Shah. He proclaimed that there was One all-powerful and invisible, to whom men ought to pray; that the only knowledge of any value was the knowledge of God; and that salvation was free to every one who performed good actions and led a virtuous life. These doctrines were denounced, his disciples persecuted, and when Nanak died, A.D. 1539, he left a few zealous and devoted followers to propagate his faith.
In spite of the oppressson and intolerance of the bigoted Aurangzib in the seventeenth century, the sect prospered and became a nation, which few religious associations in India have ever done, enlisting armies of brave and enthusiastic warriors, and at one time threatening to become the paramount power in Upper India.
It is believed that Nanak Shah visited Dacca, for a large well, in a quarter of the city called J'afarabad, is still pointed out as a place where he sat and drank water. Panjabi sepoys always visit it, and make offerings to their Guru. Furthermore, there is little doubt that his successor, Tegh Bahadur, came to Dacca about 1670, and a portrait, said to have been sketched by himself, still hangs in the Sutrapur Sangat in the city.
For many generations a small Akhara belonging to the Nanak-Shahis has existed in Shuja'atpur, a northern suburb.
This monastery, situated in the centre of an old Muhammadan garden, surrounded by dense, impenetrable jungle, was assigned by a Nawab of Dacca as a home for the Udasi,or religious sect of Nanak Shah. The first Gosain was one Nita Sahib, the disciple of Almat Shah, who again was the pupil of the son of Nanak Shah. The grave of Nita Sahib is still shown, as well as a goodly Kamaranga tree (Averrhoa carambola) that grew from his toothpick!
The present establishment consists of a Gosain, or Sunnyasi, who is a Panjabi Brahman, and an old woman from Hindustan, who accompanied her father on a pilgrimage to Balwa-Khund, in Chittagong, and when he died became a servant (sevaka) and pupil in the monastery. The Gosain is a tall muscular Sikh, with hair plaited and rolled round his head, and a long necklace of white coral beads around his neck.
The chief occupation of the inmates is chanting passages of the "Sambhu Grantha," and making frequent oblations to it. Having no endowment, the Gosain is obliged to visit the city daily in search of alms, and starvation would long ere this have closed the monastery, but for the benevolence of a few Armenian and Muhammadan gentlemen of Dacca. The Gosain estimates his followers at one hundred, but one half are too poor to contribute anything to his support.
The Nanak-Shahis have adopted many Hindu rites. Special worship is held on the Sivaratri, Doljatra, and during the Durga Pujah. At the foot of a fine Amla tree (Phyllanthus emblica) in the Akhara garden is the Charana, or footprint, of a former Gosai, which is daubed over with red Abir powder at the Holi festival.
Owing to poverty, the Udasis allege they are obliged to frequent the holy places of the Hindus and observe all their religious ceremonies. When travelling an Udasi carries a lotah, a wooden platter (Kathra) for alms, a dried gourd, a pair of long pincers (Chimta), and a dried deer's skin, while many wear a Kara, or ring, with the same object as the Roman "Citharoedus," described by Juvenal,1 wore the "fibula."
In the days of the Nawabs there were nine Sangats, or places of worship, belonging to this sect in the city, and within living memory there were three in Mahalla Urdu; but now there is only one, known as the Sangat of Tegh Bahadur, in Sutrapur. It, too, is languishing, and the twenty houses forming Sangat-tola being deserted, there is every prospect of the sect becoming extinct in Eastern Bengal. Only four Panjabi Brahmans reside in the city, and all the old families who attended the services have died off. The Mahant is therefore obliged to take service, the worship at the Sangat being performed by a Panjabi Chhatri born in Dacca.
Although there is no material difference, there is much latent jealousy, between these two Nanak-Shahi Mahants. The head of the Sangat does not make disciples of Bengali castes as the Shuja'atpur Gosain does. The former again, is chiefly supported by Sikh sepoys quartered in Dacca, the latter by low Bengali castes. The Gosain eats with the Chhari priest, but he will only touch "puri," cake fried in butter, made by the Gosain.
The Grihi, or married followers of Nanak-Shah, celebrate all the popular Hindu festivals, smoke tobacco, drink Bhang to excess, and wear the long beards and voluminous turbans of the Sikhs.
Among the Udasis of the Nanak-Shahi, as well as among Jogi Sannyasis, the miserable creatures, who, having devoted a limb to God's service, hold the outstretched arm so long upright that it becomes fixed. .
In 1874, one of these mendicants, a Panjabi Brahman, aged 40, reached Dacca. His left arm was raised upright, having remained so for nearly thirty years. The arm was much atrophied, the head of the humerus resting on the floor of the axilla, and when accidentally struck acute pain shot through it. The pectoral muscles had shrunk to mere bands, while those that raise the arm were hard and tense. The fingers were bent, and the thumb lay on the first phalanx of the middle finger, the nail having a slight curve upwards, doubtless intentionally produced to prevent its eating into the flesh. The nail of the ring finger from its matrix to the point measured three inches, while that of the forefinger was twisted like a ram's horn.
This man belonged to the Ramrayi subdivision of tthe Nanak-Shahis, whose head-quarters are in the Deyra Dhun. His dress consisted of garments dyed with yellow ochre, while on his forehead was a sectarial mark painted with wood ashes. He was a vegetarian, abstaining from flesh, fish, and spirits, but he smoked Ganjha to great excess.
